The Homemade Runner

​Today was supposed to be the last Monday before I ran a marathon. I should be excited and tired of spaghetti. Instead, I’m munching on carrots and writing a blog post about my adventures with a sort-of broken ankle and the most comfortable pair of workout shorts I’ve ever owned.

To tell this story, we first must travel back in time to April 21—I was still looking forward to running the Big Sur 21-miler on April 30. I was going entering taper-land and Greenstyle creations opened their tester call for the Moxi Shorts—so of course, I applied.

I make no effort to hide how much I love Greenstyle and its Angelyn, and this isn’t my first adventure testing for them. Part of what makes Greenstyle patterns so great is the care and devotion Angelyn puts into making sure the pattern is perfect before releasing, which is why it took a month of testing to get these shorts perfect.

There were a lot of adventures along the way--especially for the plus-size testers like me. I'm picky about the shorts I wear. In normal shorts, I have adjust between reps, if I can wear them to work out at all—thigh chafing is the worst. In an early stage, Angelyn and I had a conversation about potentially dropping the size 16 and 18 from the pattern. I am so grateful she didn't because the end result is by far the most comfortable shorts I've ever worn.

The inseam is long enough that my thighs don't rub, and there's enough room in the legs for my quadzillas (Thanks, CrossFit!). They are easy to adjust based on what your body needs: if you have a muscular bum, the pattern shows you how to adjust for that, as well as if you have skinnier thighs. (You lucky duck, you.)

See the light as it shines on the sea? It's blinding.

Despite my love of these shorts, I only made two pairs of shorts during testing—which is about what I make during a normal weeklong testing period, let alone one that lasted a full 30 days. I promise I have a good reason: the same day testing started for the Moxi Shorts, the Sort-of Broken Ankle Adventure began.

You see, over the past month, I’ve had an X-Ray, an MRI and two sessions of physical therapy, all trying to figure out what's wrong with my ankle. Depending which medical professional you talk to, I either have a fractured talus, a talar dome or gnarly tendinitis. No matter what the cause, I’ve been unable to run for a month and missed out on Big Sur and the Santa Barbara Wine Country Half Marathon, and will be missing Mountains2Beach on Sunday. I’ve spent the last two weeks re-learning how to walk and discovering that I have a lazy right foot, hip, and glute that must be re-taught how to function.

As you can tell, it’s been quite a month, but a symmetrical one. Both the shorts and my ankle need continual adjustments and made major improvements. While an arduous process, today makes it all worth it. Today, the Moxi shorts are officially released—and I get to go on a short run for the first time in a month to test out the ankle, with my PT’s blessing of course.

See the line where the sky meets the see? It calls me.

​When it was time to sew my final pair of shorts, I knew what I wanted the final outfit to look like—months ago, I decided I was going to run Mountains2Beach in a Moana-inspired outfit. Since I already had the supplies, I decided to sew the outfit with the Moxi shorts. After all, while I have to relearn how to walk and run, I’m still determined to run a marathon.